The amusement park industry is competitive and evolving. Park operators strive to offer new, innovative rides to provide exciting and thrilling experiences for patrons.
Some slide-based rides are known. For example, in conventional water slides, patrons enter the ride at a high elevation and travel to a terminal destination at a lower elevation by sliding along a chute or flume. To facilitate sliding, portions of a water slide may be lubricated with a volume of water.
In some water slides, patrons may sit or lie on a vehicle designed to contact the ride surface. In some water slides, patrons may slide along the ride without a vehicle, with their bodies in contact with the ride surface.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,854,662 B2 to Braun et al., a water slide having at least one loop section is described. One problem with the water slide described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,854,662 B2 is that, due to the use of the loop, there is a need for an evacuation platform at the valley and as well as the apex of the loop. In addition, confining riders to such a loop may decrease the thrill of the ride.
In some commercially available water slides, such as rides sold by ProSlide Technology Inc. under the trademarks CannonBOWL™, BulletBOWL™, ProBOWL™, and BehemothBOWL™, riders are deposited from a chute into a round, horizontally-oriented bowl. Riders enter the bowl along the wall of the bowl and exit from the bottom center of the bowl.
There is a need for water rides that address the problems and disadvantages of previous rides while providing more exciting experiences for riders.